Society of Chemical Industry (American Section)

The Society of Chemical Industry (American Section) or SCI America is a semi-independent learned society inspired by the creation of the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) in London in 1881. Originally known as the New York Section, it was formed in 1894 and officially renamed the American Section in 1919. The main activity of the American Section is the awarding of several prizes in chemistry: the Perkin Medal, the Chemical Industry Medal and the SCI's Gordon E. Moore Medal. The American Section also works with the American Chemical Society (ACS) and others to support scholars in chemistry and chemical engineering.

The creation of the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) in London in 1881 led to the eventual formation of a number of satellite groups. A number of informal meetings were held in 1894, with the goal of organizing a New York section of the Society of Chemical Industry. On May 2, 1894, analytical chemist Arthur McGeorge met with seven other members of London's Society of Chemical Industry who were active in New York. At a second meeting, with Alfred H. Mason as chairman and McGeorge as secretary, it was decided to invite all New York-based members of the London society to an organizational meeting. At this third meeting, at the College of Pharmacy, 36 members of the Society of Chemical Industry signed a petition requesting the London organization to form a New York section, the first section to be created overseas. Their proposal was enthusiastically received by London president E. C. C. Stanford, who wrote "We are pleased to add the stars and stripes to our highly respectable old colours."

The first official meeting of the new New York Section was held in November 1894. The new section had a membership of 350 members, about 1/10th of the entire organization. The London group's president Thomas Tyrer and foreign secretary Ludwig Mond attended the October 1895 fall meeting in New York, which was rescheduled so that they could participate.

In contrast to the American Chemical Society, which required its members to hold university degrees, the Society of Chemical Industry was open to a broad range of working chemists in industry, manufacturing and pharmaceuticals. Mason emphasized that the new organization did not intend to compete with the ACS, but rather to bring together academic and manufacturing chemists: